Push, Pull, Dialogue - Part I

So - now that we know that we can engage in a dialogue with consumers - and we know we need to taylor our campaign to align with the devices that our target demographic are most likely to have - what can we do?

There are 3 primary types of mobile marketing activities.

• Push
  
• Pull
  
• Dialogue
  

Let's look at each of these campaigns and what we need to consider to ensure that we don't fall afoul of SPAM legislation or codes of practice.

Push

A push campaign is simply one where as a business you push a message out to one or more consumers. There can be a variety of reasons when and why you're sending them a message. And for each reason you're sending them a message there are varying potential responses by the consumer based on the a.) timeliness of the message b.) relevance to the consumer at the time they receive the message and c.) the if expecting to receive the message. These go back to my 3 principle guideliness for avoiding the perception of SPAM. If it's not SPAM, then it is:

• timely
• releveant
• requested

Some good examples of a Push include:

Appointment reminders as they near the appointment time
Sport scores or Sever weather alerts
Daily horoscopes or jokes delivered first thing in the morning
Announcements of ticket availability as soon as tickets go on sale

Each of these campaigns meet the basic requirements of timely, relevant and requested. In each case the information is sent when the content of the message is timely, the content is information that is relevant to the consumer and most importantly, a consumer has actively requested the information.

Some not so good examples of Push include:

A random SMS message offering a pack of Smartees (and you're a diabetic)
A speical alert for a clubbing event happening on Friday (and the message arrives Tuesday)
A message from Jim's Auto Service offering 10% off an oil change (and you don't know Jim)

These type of campaigns are largely expensive, ineffective and may actually be illegal in some cases depending on how the consumers opt-in permission was acheieved. But more than that - even if there is an opt-in permission a consumer may claim that the message constitutes SPAM if it interrupts their day with useless information. The best that would happen is that the consumer opts-out of your campaign. The worst is that the consumer calls up their operator and claims that they are being sent SPAM, resulting in you and your aggregator getting your hand slapped!

So that's what it means to run a push campaign and some good guidelines for ensuring that your campaign is not considered to be SPAM. Next time - Pull campaigns.

Sr. Consultant - Mobile Marketing
Pocket Reach Solutions, LLC

Who Bares the Brunt of the SPAM Complaint?

Ok - I'm not going to make you read all the way to the end this time. The answer is:

The Mobile Network Operator

When a consumer gets a message on there phone that they decide is SPAM the first person to get a call is the person they have their phone service through. It is almost never back to the advertiser. Either the advertiser has made it very difficult to identify who they are - or maybe they have sent the message with no ability to Reply - and maybe there isn't even a way to unsubscribe that's listed in the message. This means that the only person left to lash out at is the Mobile Network Operator.

A recent statistic for the UK indicates that an average customer care call can cost £9. Considering the revenue to the operator for the message is somewhere between £0.02 and £0.49 on average - a single customer care call can negate the revenue from a very high volume of mobile marketing messages.

Mobile network operators are moving swiftly to find ways to eliminate SPAM and fradulent messages being sent to their subscribers. And if they can't stop the message then they want a solid way to identify the source of the messages so they can quickly investigate and address any potentially misbehaving application or aggregator.

So what can you do with mobile marketing?

Mobile marketing is still truly in its infancy - not only as a technology - but also as a concept. It's still be developed and fleshed out. Some would say it's nascient. Some would say that it's inevitable. And some will say, "What? Putting billboards on cars? - It'll never catch on."

So what exactly do I mean when I write about mobile marketing? What are some of the top concepts in mobile marketing that people are starting to use? How does it all work.

Mobile Marketing: Mobile marketing is communication between business and consumer via the consumer's mobile device.

Using the above as a definition let's look at the various componets of the definition and why they apply here.

Communication Between Business and Consumer

The biggest quantum leap for mobile marketing over most other channels for marketings is the word "between". Whether text messaging or photo messaging, business has a way to interactively communicate with consumers. Sometimes this communication is one way from brand to consumer (Push Marketing) and sometimes it's a one-off query-response (Pull-Marketing) - and sometimes it's the beginning of an ongoing interaction with the consumer (Dialogue Marketing).

This is not print or radio advertising -- and it's not even Interactive Television advertising -- because it's truly ubiquitous in it's reach and it's truly an interactive experience that can happen at any time the consumer wants to engage with the brand.

Remember - it's not just one way. The possibility exists to actually create a dialogue with your consumer.

Via the Consumer's Mobile Device

The second half of the definition is almost as important as the first. The mobile device is the source of all manner of confusion and actually creates a considerable amount of clutter in the area of mobile marketing.

Some consumers have high functioning PDA devices with mobile phones included in the technology. These devices can do everything a PDA can do - everything your Gameboy can do - everything a camera phone can do - and then do a lot more things. However, the penetration of these devices is limited by the cost of the device, the size of the device, and the cool-ness factor of the device.

Other consumers barely have the ability to make voice calls and send text messages. And by ability - that includes the technical functionality of the device as much as it addresses the technical competence of the user. If the consumer has a full-functioning PDA but can't do any more than make voice calls and send text messages - then that's all the device is good for.

And just to really cloud up the waters - let's add personal computers to the mix. Laptops, Palmtops, portables, lugables, PDAs with Wi-Fi - these are also "mobile devices". But do they really fall into the arena of mobile marketing? Yes - and No. You thought I was going to make the water more clear - didn't you? - Ok -- I will.

Personal computers that have no wireless networking - they don't count. They are mobile devices, but we can't communicate with them.

Personal computers that have Wi-Fi cards for networking (the kind that you use when sitting in an airport lounge or a coffee shop) - they don't count. These mobile devices are surfing the internet and fall into the category of e-mail/web/pop-up advertising. Currently we can't communicate with Wi-Fi laptops other than through the Internet - so Internet advertising is all that applies.

Personal computers that have 3G or GPRS cards - they "might" count. These devices are similar to the Wi-Fi enabled devices from above, and subject to Internet Advertising guidelines. But because they may be attached to a 3G, 1XRTT or other high speed mobile network operator for their network connectivity - we just might be able to talk to them. It's possible that the software would support sending and receiving of text and photo messages using the GSM, CDMA or other voice network... Possibly.

In the end -- there aren't that many of these devices so let's just count them out entirely for right now. Mobile marketing won't address them nearly so well as Internet Advertising.

When designing a mobile marketing campaign be sure you know the mix of devices in your target demographic.


Ok - So now that we are on a level playing field as to what we mean by "Mobile Marketing" - Let's look at the top 3 types of mobile marketing:

Push
Pull
Dialogue

Look for those later this week.

Sr. Consultant - Mobile Marketing
Pocket Reach Solutions, LLC